Just picking five is so difficult but.... I love melodic music and harmonies and have always been attracted to those sorts of artists and writers. In no particular order, here are 5 of the most influential artists in my musical growth through the years.
The Beatles: Great songwriters and performers who were all about the music. They influenced me to want to play guitar and write music. Their music has a certain innocence that we don't see in today's music very often.
The Eagles: Extraordinary songwriters and amazing vocal work. They have always been one of my favorite bands for those reasons from their first album to them most recent work. Their harmony has always been amazingly good.
Neil Young: A prolific writer who loved harmony. He influenced me greatly in my early years of playing guitar and playing music. There was so much about him that I liked. Many of the early bands I played in covered his music. His unique style and approach to music stick with me to this day and influence how I look at music.
Deep Purple: The original hard rock band with Richie Blackmore on guitar is hard to beat. Again, great talent and guitarist as well as writing. And of course they rock hard and with so much energy. Loved their early stuff.... Smoke on the Water, Fireball, Highway Star and of course Lazy..... you owe it to yourself to listen to those songs if you don't know this band that was one of the founders of hard rock as we know it today. The Machine Head album is a classic especially considering how it was recorded and where.
Led Zepplin: Another rock band that wasn't content to just rock. Amazing songwriting ... listen to all their albums.... from the early blues to the Houses of the Holy...... and more. Of course their iconic rock ballad Stairway to Heaven still tops the lists they do yearly of the best rock songs of all times.
I could list many more but if I had to choose albums from only 5 artists to take with me to a desert island .... these would be the artists I'd have in the suitcase.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
Glenn Miller Band - I just think he embodies the big band era
Billy Joel - more wonderful original songs than you can shake a stick at
Little River Band - oh those harmonies
Burton Cummings - both with The Guess Who and solo artist. I love the sound of his voice and his piano style.
Maynard Ferguson - from his early days to the more pop oriented songs, have always enjoyed his music, but also the music of his various band members along the way (I think I'm probably one of two people that bought Stan Mark's album).
That's a really strong list, even if a little eclectic! Really awesome to see why you chose them. Thanks for sharing that with us.
All of these were back in my greaser days and prior to my hippy, jazz and new age days!
Greaser days, haha! The artists you mentioned I think are excellent choices. It's cool to hear how many people here have shifted and changed and yet some of their oldest favourites are still their favourites today!
After thinking about this, I decided to change my post.
I listen to all different kinds of music, from 3 chord blues/rock/country to symphonies to "foreign" (to me) and I have many hundreds of CDs and LPs.
And after thinking about this for a while I realized that the most difficult thing to compose must be a great symphony. Establishing themes, developing the themes, and coming out with a work that lasts hundreds of years is a feat most mere mortals cannot do.
1) Antonin Dvorak. I played his 9th symphony in a symphonic band, wore out an LP or two and had a few CDs. One day after hundreds and hundreds of listening I recognized a spot in the fourth movement where he combined big fragments from the major themes of all four movements and combined them into one part using the fragments as melody, countermelody and foundation. Eargazm!!!
2) Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky because he has such a great sense of melody and wove such wonderful parts under them. "Romeo & Juliet", "6th Symphony", and so many others, extremely emotional and even when sad the beauty of the melodies soar above the sadness
3) Sergei Prokofiev. His symphonies are wonderful, but his ballet suites like "Stone Flower" and his take on "Romeo and Juliet" never fail to give me chills. Also his intelligent use of dissonance always sounds like it belongs and was never just stuck in there because he could
4) Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov If he had written nothing else other than the "Russian Easter Overture" and "Capriccio Espagnol" it would have been more than enough, but there is so much more
5) Dmitri Shostakovich one of the most prolific symphony composers and he created so many different worlds with them
For those familiar, I like the dark, brooding "blues" end of the classical spectrum.
Runners up would be Josef Suk, Manuel de Falla, Camille Saint-Saëns, Ottorino Respighi, Leos Janacek, and a few others that will pop into my head as soon as I hit submit.
Now I don't want to dis Muddy Waters, Jeff Beck, k.d.lang, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones, Terry Kath, Otis Redding or any other pop stars, but what the symphony people can do is definitely super-human to the highest degree.
Just picking five is so difficult but.... I love melodic music and harmonies and have always been attracted to those sorts of artists and writers. In no particular order, here are 5 of the most influential artists in my musical growth through the years.
The Beatles: Great songwriters and performers who were all about the music. They influenced me to want to play guitar and write music. Their music has a certain innocence that we don't see in today's music very often.
The Eagles: Extraordinary songwriters and amazing vocal work. They have always been one of my favorite bands for those reasons from their first album to them most recent work. Their harmony has always been amazingly good.
Neil Young: A prolific writer who loved harmony. He influenced me greatly in my early years of playing guitar and playing music. There was so much about him that I liked. Many of the early bands I played in covered his music. His unique style and approach to music stick with me to this day and influence how I look at music.
Deep Purple: The original hard rock band with Richie Blackmore on guitar is hard to beat. Again, great talent and guitarist as well as writing. And of course they rock hard and with so much energy. Loved their early stuff.... Smoke on the Water, Fireball, Highway Star and of course Lazy..... you owe it to yourself to listen to those songs if you don't know this band that was one of the founders of hard rock as we know it today. The Machine Head album is a classic especially considering how it was recorded and where.
Led Zepplin: Another rock band that wasn't content to just rock. Amazing songwriting ... listen to all their albums.... from the early blues to the Houses of the Holy...... and more. Of course their iconic rock ballad Stairway to Heaven still tops the lists they do yearly of the best rock songs of all times.
I could list many more but if I had to choose albums from only 5 artists to take with me to a desert island .... these would be the artists I'd have in the suitcase.
You have some reaaally great choices here! But I agree, picking just five was really hard. I did not enjoy trying to pick my own.
I enjoyed reading both of your lists, but I especially loved the reasoning behind your latest choices! Thanks for taking the time to come back and make another comment on the thread! I love seeing how much thought everyone puts in to their lists!
I predict the replies on this thread will be quite generational.
My list is surprisingly close to yours. There are a few others but I'll stick to (5).
Chicago Doobie Brothers Styx Alan Parsons Steely Dan
In all my subjectivity, all reflect great song writing & vocals, genuinely original and highly respectable musicianship and great songs to play guitar to. They are my favs and heavily influenced my music preferences over the decades. For the record, NO.....I don't think my song writing is of any similar quality or appeal as the ones I mention above.
Part of this, Ember, is how you define "artist". Most of us here focus on the writing side, with the rare exceptions who have great voices or are strong players. So when you get down to creativity vs performance, these lists can change quickly.
Personal perception of the artists enters into it too. As much as I admit to the performance level of Michael Jackson, I refuse to listen to anything he ever did due to his personal life choices. I once had a band ask me to play keyboards for them. They had 4 of Jackson's songs on their "will play" list. I told them that I refuse to do his songs, because that was paying homage to someone I have a deep revulsion toward. They refused to drop the songs. I declined the invitation to join.
That's just my example of how perceptions play into this as well as generation.
I enjoyed reading both of your lists, but I especially loved the reasoning behind your latest choices! Thanks for taking the time to come back and make another comment on the thread! I love seeing how much thought everyone puts in to their lists!
Thanks Ember.
BTW I forgot the name of my number 1 choice, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. I guess I got too involved in the reasoning
Mac 2025 Special Upgrade Offers Extended Until August 15th!
It's not too late to upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® and save! We've extended our special until August 15, 2025!
We've added many major new features to Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, including advanced AI tools like the amazing BB Stem Splitter and AI Lyrics Generator, as well as VST3 plugin support, and Equalize Temp. Plus, there’s a new one-stop MIDI Patches Picker with over 1,100 MIDI patches to choose from, all neatly categorized by GM numbers. The MultiPicker Library is enhanced with tabs for the SongPicker, MIDI Patch Picker, Chord Builder, AI Lyrics Generator, and Song Titles Browser, and the tabs are organized into logical groups. The Audiophile Edition is enhanced with FLAC files , which are 60% smaller than AIFF files while maintaining identical audio quality, and now ships on a fast 1TB SSD, and much more!
Check out all the new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® here:
Purchase your Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac during our special to save up to 50% off your upgrade purchase and receive a FREE BONUS PAK of amazing new Add-ons. These include the 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK, Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana, Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes, MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano, Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7, Playable RealTracks Set 4, RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark, and more!
Upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and add 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and 20 RealStyles, FLAC Files for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks, Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster, MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster, Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8, and RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe.
Learn more about the Bonus PAKs!
We’ve expanded the Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks library with 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 449-467) across Jazz, Blues, Funk, World, Pop, Rock, Country, Americana, and Praise & Worship—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Blues & World (Sets 449–455):
These RealTracks includes “Soul Jazz” with Neil Swainson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), Charles Treadway (organ), Miles Black (piano), and Brent Mason (guitar). Enjoy “Requested ’60s” jazz, classic acoustic blues with Colin Linden, and more of our popular 2-handed piano soloing. Plus, a RealTracks first—Tango with bandoneon, recorded in Argentina!
Rock & Pop (Sets 456–461):
This collection includes Disco, slap bass ‘70s/‘80s pop, modern and ‘80s metal with Andy Wood, and a unique “Songwriter Potpourri” featuring Chinese folk instruments, piano, banjo, and more. You’ll also find a muted electric guitar style (a RealTracks first!) and “Producer Layered Guitar” styles for slick "produced" sound.
Country, Americana & Praise (Sets 462–467):
We’ve added new RealTracks across bro country, Americana, praise & worship, vintage country, and songwriter piano. Highlights include Brent Mason (electric guitar), Eddie Bayers (drums), Doug Jernigan (pedal steel), John Jarvis (piano), Glen Duncan (banjo, mandolin & fiddle), Mike Harrison (electric bass) and more—offering everything from modern sounds to heartfelt Americana styles
And, if you are looking for more, the 2025 49-PAK (for $49) includes an additional 20 RealTracks with exciting new sounds and genre-spanning styles. Enjoy RealTracks firsts like Chinese instruments (guzheng & dizi), the bandoneon in an authentic Argentine tango trio, and the classic “tic-tac” baritone guitar for vintage country.
You’ll also get slick ’80s metal guitar from Andy Wood, modern metal with guitarist Nico Santora, bass player Nick Schendzielos, and drummer Aaron Stechauner, more praise & worship, indie-folk, modern/bro country with Brent Mason, and “Songwriter Americana” with Johnny Hiland.
Plus, enjoy user-requested styles like Soul Jazz RealDrums, fast Celtic Strathspey guitar, and Chill Hop piano & drums!
With your version 2025 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Or upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 33 new RealTracks and 65+ new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 29 new RealTracks and 45+ new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 20 new RealStyles.
Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles (with audio demos)
128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyles,
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster,
Instrumental Studies Set 23: More '80s Hard Rock Soloing,
MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster
Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8
RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Mac!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Mac!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Windows!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Windows!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
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I love seeing how much thought everyone puts in to their lists!
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